Benitez looks to win in Barcelona

Saturday 20 January 2007 00:02 BST

Ambitious Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez insists he will not settle for a draw from Wednesday's tough Champions League first leg clash with Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

Benitez is keen to bring a valuable advantage back to Anfield and intends to name an attacking line-up, with Craig Bellamy expected to start despite a reported training camp fracas. Both Bellamy and John Arne Riise, the other main suspect in the alleged incident, travelled to Spain with the team with Benitez postponing possible punishment until after the flight home.

Benitez told the Liverpool Echo: "We are not going there to draw 0-0. We are going there to try to win the game. We know it can be a big advantage going back to Anfield if we score a goal."

He added: "Barcelona are a very attacking team and they will be confident they can score at Anfield, so it may be important for us to score away from home.

"Of course, if it ends 0-0 we will not be saying it's a bad score. This was the score we achieved away to Juventus and Chelsea when we won the competition, but we must not approach the game thinking this is our ambition.

"We must remember the Benfica game last season when the game was heading to 0-0 but then we made a mistake which changed everything. We must learn from this situation."

Benitez's men head to Spain under a cloud after recent negative publicity which followed their Barclays Premiership defeat at Newcastle. But he insists team spirit has been maintained and his side have nothing to fear.

Benitez added: "With this kind of game, everyone talks about them as favourites.

"They are top of the Spanish league, won the title last season and won Champions League.

"We know they play good football, but we will go there with belief and confidence. The players are well prepared."